Couplincr foe rai



CAMPBELL, LIGHTHI ZER & SHANNON.

- Car Coupling.

No. 21,244. Patented Aug. 24, 1858,

I L. I 7722 72036 7276 721075 /WMVILO u TE srA s ATN Erica.

J. CAMPBELL, V. B. LIGHTHIZER, AND P. SHANNON, OE STEUBENVILE, OHIO.

COUPLING FOR RAILROAD-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 21,244, dated August 24, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JEssE CAMPBELL, V. B. LIGHTHIZER, and PATRICK SHANNON, of Steubenville, in the county of Jefferson, in the State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved Manner of Coupling and Uncoupling Railroad-Cars; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of our invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the link or coupling head, the jaws and spring that controls them, and the chain and hand wheel or their equivalents for opening said jaws to disconnect the link therefrom.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will proceed to describe the same in connection with the drawing which represents a top plan of the coupling as applied to the ends of two cars.

A, represents a link or coupling bar, rounded off at the end as seen at b and having two square shoulders (Z or recesses in rear of said rounded portion for the hooks on the jaws B, B, to catch into.

One of the jaws may be rigid, but the other one is pivoted or hinged at a, and held up in its proper position by a spring C, so that when the rounded portion Z), of the coupling bar or link strikes against the similarly rounded portions 0, c of the jaws, it will spread said hinged jaw against the action of the spring C, and when the shoulders (Z thereon pass the shoulders or recesses e, on the jaws, the spring closes its jaw, and thus couples the cars. There is a horizontal hinged joint f, both in the link or coupling bar A, and in the shank F of the jaws B, so that they may give to the motion of the cars, without springingopen the jaws which would uncouple them.

D, D, are chains or ropes attached respectively to the jaws B, B, and passing around friction rollers in the blocks G, G, have their other ends connected to the hand wheels E, E, so that the brakeman, or conductor, may from the platform or elsewhere uncouple the cars, when it becomes necessary to do so.

This coupling is self-connecting, it being only necessary to run one car up against the next adjacent one, and the connection is formed.

Having thus fully described the construction, and operation of our car coupling, what we claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The link A, made rounding at the point with square offsets on each side, in combination with the jaws B, B, the spring C, chain D, and hand wheel E, or its equivalent, when constructed, arranged, and operated in the manner and for the purpose substantially as hereinbefore described.

JESSE CAMPBELL. V. B. LIGHTHIZEB. PATRICK SHANNON. Witnesses:

JAMES M. SHANE, JAMES MELVIN. 

